We have snow! And plenty of the white stuff. It started snowing some time yesterday afternoon and really hasn't stopped. I will take some measurements this evening and at some point today I will need to get out and shovel. I am happy to see that the plows have at least once gone done the street. I wonder if they will do anymore plowing and if they will put done any sand or winter mix. Guess we will find out at some point today.

The top two photos are from today's storm. The bottom two photos are from the storm we had a week ago, the one that had more ice then snow.

Went to Jiffy lube this morning and then the grocery store. Needed to get one of the headlights fixed, it had burned out. Also needed to get new wiper blades and figured I'd get an oil change while I was at it. The errand took me about an hour, which surprised me. Figured Jiffy lube alone would for like take an hour.

Have a appointment to get three of my teeth yanked on the twenty-sixth. Not looking forward to it. Then on February third I will get three fillings. Think after that gets taken care off, I wont be seeing a dentist for a long time.

Mom's dentist appointment was this morning, she had five teeth pulled. She was a bit woozy after the ordeal. We went to our grocery store after she was released to get her prescriptions filled. Lucky her has dental insurance so it was only eighteen dollars out of our pocket. Once we got her meds, we paid for the food we needed to through the weekend and left. I got some lunch at a fast food place and we headed home. Mom's sleeping now, she has a little pain but nothing really bad.

www.stopsylivabrown.com

Spread the word. Lets help stop this menace to society.

More Paris pics as promised.

Went to the dentist yesterday. Both Mom and I will need to see an oral surgeon. I might get three wisdom teeth pulled, but I may put that off. Mom had a worse time then me because she had more damage and what not then me, she will need to have a couple teeth pulled as well. She might take a Friday off so she could have the weekend to rest.

The winter storm that past through didn't end up doing as much as was expected. I think the weather "forecasters", if one could call them that, like to cover their collective butts a bit. They need to make us aware of a storm, but they could downplay what we might get. People panic if they think they might not get out for a few days. Wasn't surprised when we went to the grocery store on Thursday that the store was out of a lot of things. Of course if people where smart to begin with, they would have a few days worth of food and supplies so if they were trapped it wouldn't be a big deal.

Yvonne DeCarlo has died. Loved her as Lily Munster, she was also great in The Ten Commandments. Miss DeCarlo was beautiful and talented. She will be missed.

Winter weather wants to take another swing at us. We got a small amount of ice today and it was topped off with a little bit of snow. The area is set to get some more stuff this weekend. It should be fun trying to get our errands done and going to the dentists office with this stuff.

I've been a bit lax in posting and there are a few legit reasons. First off, I had a cold for a week or so and really didnt feel like posting when I didnt feel so well. Secondly, there hasnt been a whole lot to report other then the cold, warmer winter weather then normal and maybe a strange dream or two. And then I just really havent felt like posting. But I will repent and try to at least make an effort to post something.

Watched some of the bowl games and for some reason enjoyed them more then I normally do. Dont know if its because I didnt get a chance to watch much in the way of sports when I was out of the country on vacation or if it was just that the teams in the games were more interesting. It could be the latter.

Have a dentist appointment Saturday. Mom has one too, but since she now has a cold she may not keep hers. Have some other things to do this weekend, so it will be a busy weekend. Laundry, shopping, cleaning and resting. Dont know how much of anyting we will get done if Mom isnt feeling better.

Happy New Year!!! 2007 is now here and I started the year with a cold. Must have picked it up while traveling. Pictures above are a selection from my trip to Paris.

We had some rain yesterday and a brief snow shower. Woke up this morning to a sunny sky and it was quite nice.

Did some cleaning this morning and watched some college bowls games in the afternoon. Quiet start to the new year and I'm fine with that.

My only resolutions this year, ones I actually plan on working on, are to lose some weight and do better with my home-based business. I figure if I keep it simple, I may succeed with the resolutions.

Sergei is having problems with his ears again. We took him to the vet on Saturday and the vet said it could be a seasonal allergy thing. We have to clean his ears once a day, give him an allergy pill and put in some medicated stuff in twice a day. Will have to take him later in the week to check his progress.

Mom will have a mini vacation this week, the fourth until the eighth off. We have some things planned, but with the heat I don't know how much stuff we will get down.

We got a little over an inch in rain at home while we were in Paris. Looks like we could get some more rain before the year ends.

James Brown, the Godfather of Soul died Monday. I liked some of his music. He was a great man and he will be missed.

Gerald Ford, the 38th President died this week. He inherited problems from the Nixon term and did a good job with the time in office he had.

I survived Paris! Maybe I need a shirt that says that. Will upload a pic or two later. But have much to tell.

We left on December 16th and headed to Chicago, the flight to was delayed for an hour and a half due to high winds in the Chicago area. Once we took off, the flight went smoothly and we landed at O'Hare a little over an hour later. We ended up having to hustle to the next gate to check in. After check in we boarded a plane heading to Manchester England. The flight was about 8 hours in length. I managed to get a little sleep, just a few minutes here and there. The two movies on the flight were "You've Got Mail" (which sucks) and "The Da Vinci Code" (which I had already seen in theaters). On the flight we got two meals, dinner and breakfast. I wasn't feeling well so I didn't eat much of the either meal. We landed in Manchester and ended up getting in the wrong line. We had to go through security, not customs. Once we got the right area and through security, we got something to drink. Mom got cheated out some money because the guy at the drink counter didn't tell her until she went back with the receipt that they didn't take euros. Anyway, we finished our drinks and headed for the gate. A few minutes later we on the plane to Paris.

Paris! The airport is freaking huge. Once we got off the plane, we headed out to get on a bus that took us to the terminal to get out luggage. We walked quite a ways to the baggage claim. All we had to do to get into the claim area was show our passports. After we got our bags we walked and walked then bought Mom a lighter so she could go out and smoke a cigarette. After that we walked around looking for the fictional tourist information office and some bus that would supposedly save us on a taxi and get us close to our hotel. Never found either thing. But we did find a place to have a quick meal. After we ate, we headed for a taxi stand outside. A couple minutes later we were in a taxi and headed towards our hotel. The hotel we were booked at was the St. James & Albany Hotel and spa. The place looked great online.

About a half hour and fifty something euros later, we were at the hotel. It was on a busy street and get this.....near the Louvre! Walking distance from the freaking Louvre. We went in and asked if it was possible to go ahead and check into our room. Thankfully we could check in. After Mom finished check in we headed upstairs. The room was very nice: high ceiling, desk, sofa, mini bar, TV, and so on. We set out luggage down, went to the bathroom and then headed out to get out first look at Paris. Then we went back to our room and rested.

After getting a lot of sleep, we got up, showered and got dressed. We head out and went to the Louvre. We found that there are several shops and restaurants in the building, and we ended up eating at this nice cafe. Cafe' Creme and pastries for breakfast made us feel a little better. Once we paid, we were off to the museum. After an attempt to pay at a automated machine, we found a place where we could talk to a human and pay with them. Then it was off to visit the Louvre. As expected there were a lot of visitors. We didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but we were still tired from travel. Before leaving we did see the Mona Lisa. I had to real desire to see it but I figured, since I am there, why not give it a glance.

We did some shopping at the Louvre gift shop and then went back to the hotel for a rest. In the afternoon we headed out for Point Alexander (think that's how its spelled), which was featured in the Sopranos episode Cold Stones. It was a long walk from the hotel and because I am overweight (something to work on next year) it was a hard walk. But it was worth it. The area was wonderful and I saw the Arc De Triumph plus we saw the twinkling lights on the Eiffel Tower. I got the Eiffel Tower light show on the video feature on the digital camera. Once we got back to the hotel, we went up to our room and ordered room service.

The next few days we visited the Louvre two more times and we saw the Venus De Milo. We also went to the Orsay museum, did a boat tour on the Seine, did three bus tours, did a lot of walking, took a taxi to the Sacre Couer, visited Notre Dame, bought some souvenirs, took lots of pics, ate great meals and did a lot of resting. The only down side to the whole trip is that there weren't a lot more restaurants in our area and not many places took American credit cards.

Our stay was great. In the ten days we had there, we did a lot of things. I could go on in detail but it would probably take up several pages and who wants to read all that. We never had a bad experience with a French person, they were all nice to us and we did enjoy our stay.

Yesterday morning we got a wake up call at 6 am Paris time. We got up and slowly got dressed. Before we checked out, we had breakfast in one of the hotels restaurants. After our meal, we headed back up to our room to retrieve our luggage. Once check out was complete, the bellman called us a cab. When the cab arrived, our luggage was loaded up and then we got in. As we were leaving, it was still dark despite being a little after 8 am. We got to the airport we went through the maze of lines through security, check in and then off to find the gate. Once there we did some shopping and then waited to board the plane. Thankfully on the way home we didn't have to share seats, it was just the two us together on the left side of the plane near the wing. The flight home was a ten hour flight to Dallas, where we would get a connecting flight back to Kansas City Missouri. Where we would get our care and drive back home to Kansas City Kansas.

The flight from Paris took off on time and we began our journey home. We had two meals, while good they were also forgettable. Once of the movies they were going to play, only wanted to play in French. So they scrapped that movie and played "Elf" as planned and "The Da Vinci Code" in place of the other movie. They also showed some TV shows- I Love Lucy, King Of Queens (which sucks ass) and Frasier. I did pretty well on the flight home, but the last couple hours, I was a little stir crazy. Once we got to Dallas, we retrieved our bags, went through customs, check in security and then off to the gate. Close to when we should have been boarding, we were finally told ( along with several other passengers), that the gate were at was wrong. So we hurried done to the other gate and found we could have taken our time because they were boarding yet. Once we did board, we happily took our seats. I spent much of the flight looking out the window.

When we landed and had gotten off the plane, we went to baggage claim. Once we had our bags we headed and caught a bus to the economy parking lot and got into our car. After struggling with our luggage, we got in an found our car started right up. We went to the grocery store before we went home. Everything was the way we left it. I turned the water back on, started the computer and did some unpacking. At eleven something I went to bed. Slept hard for three hours and got up to go to the bathroom and then went back to sleep where I slept another three hours. At five-thirty am, afraid I wouldn't wake up on time, I just stayed up.

Today I have unpacked, gotten the pets from the kennel, caught up on a few things but for the most part have been at loose ends. I imagine I'll be like that for a couple more days. Hopefully I can get a full nights rest tonight, cause I am going to need it.

Peter Boyle has died. Loved some of the work he did. The first movie I ever remember seeing was "Young Frankenstein", I turned six the year it came out. I didn't care too much for "Everyone Loves Raymond", but when I watched I thought he was funny.

Lamar Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, has died. The Chiefs were once the Dallas Texans and moved to KC in 1963. He helped merge the AFL and NFL leagues. He had a hand in other sports as well and was a great owner. I wish other sports owners would take a lesson from him.

Both men will be missed.

Saw some deer out in the field behind the house yesterday morning as we were feeding the dogs. There were about six of them in total and one of them looked young.

The weather has turned warm again. So its no wonder I had a headache yesterday. I took a couple aspirins last night before going to bed so I could ward off another headache.

Have a few things to do today. Its all in preparation for the trip. One thing I am doing is strictly unrelated, is cleaning in the storage room. Just needing to use up some my nervous energy and this is a good way to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW5wJ49WQrY

Had a headache this morning, but managed to beat it back.

Mom has jury duty today. She was picked and will have to go back to hopefully finish up.

Countdown to the trip. Have a few things I need to take care of before we leave Saturday afternoon. I will pack Friday and tie up all loose ends. Friday we will get the pets to the kennel and then Mom will go into work. Am going to tell a couple of our neighbors we will be gone. I cant imagine anything could (and hope nothing) happen, but I just want someone other then Mom's co-workers and boss to know we're gone.

James Kim, TechTv alum and C/net editor, was found dead yesterday. He had managed to get quite a distance from the snowbound car where his wife and kids were. If he had just stayed with car and had there been provisions in case such an event took place, this story would have had a happier ending. But alas, we say good-bye to a good man. He thought he was doing the right thing, the honorable thing. I enjoyed the work he did on TechTv. He will be missed.

Saw a shooting star a couple nights ago. Have been having trouble sleeping lately and happened to be awake at 4:30 am to see the shooting star. Its been awhile since Ive seen one.

The plumber had to come out again yesterday. We had a small leak in a copper pipe, it wasn't that bad but it could have become worse. It would drip every now and again, but since we will be out of town for the better part of two weeks, we didn't want something like that to get worse while we were away and couldn't do anything. Well he put in a new t-joint in and it all looks great and didn't cost much, 250 dollars. The only thing is, that around one of the joints there is a leak that drips now and again. The same technician came out and put some caulk around it, but that didn't help anything. I mean what we have is better then what we had. So I cant complain too much. Will put some more caulk around the joint this weekend, which means a trip to Lowe's.

Will be getting some charitable donations in the mail either today or tomorrow. Its just something we like to do every year. Also need to get some last minute Christmas cards out.

Mom did go to work Friday, she said it wasn't too bad. It got warm enough on Saturday that more of the ice and snow melted. Yesterday it didn't get out of the twenties temperature wise and so little melting occurred.

James Kim, his wife and two kids are missing. He worked on, the now defunct, channel TechTv. I loved his segments and hope all is well. It has now been over a week since they disappeared.

Have to call a plumber out yet again. There is a leaky water pipe in the laundry room. I don't know when it started, but yesterday when I went down to put some bedding in the dryer I noticed water on the floor. At first I thought it was water that had come in from outside. When I turned on the drop light, I still need to fix the light fixture down there, I saw it was from the pipe and not from around the out take pipe. I figured since there had been melt off Saturday, we would have gotten some water in but knock on wood we haven't. At least not yet.

The driveway is almost a solid sheet of ice, so I will need to get out and spread some of the sand we bought Saturday around. I am hoping it will be an inexpensive fix to the pipe.

Got a little bit of snow yesterday. Maybe a quarter of an inch or so. Where Mom works, the snow was coming down heavier. She left an hour early even though she had planned to stay a little late and work on some things. At first, she was just going to stop on her way home and get some things at the store, but found that once she got close to home it wasn't so bad and called me to be waiting for her. When she got home, I got into the car and we went to Kmart to do some shopping, got the car fueled up and then picked up some dinner from Papa Johns. It wasn't too bad out, even though there is a layer of ice under the snow. Mom will be going to work today even though I think she deserves a day off.

Mom finally got her passport and she started the process a week before me. We ordered some Travellers Checks and Euros from American Express over the weekend and got them yesterday. So pretty everything is set. The pets have their shots needed for boarding and we have made reservations for them at a kennel. We have brand new bags, some new clothes, new shoes, our passports and so on. All we need to do is some last minute things and we're good to go.

Bought a digital camera, which is something we've talked about buying for months. It's a Canon PowerShot A530 and its wonderful. Now we don't have to worth about film and if we should develop there or wait until we get home. And another great thing is no more bad shots.

At the moment we have some nasty winter weather out there. It was warmer when I woke up this morning then it is right now. I am not sure how I am going to get the nasty ice off the steps and drive way, but I'll think about that later.

Got some much needed rain yesterday and overnight. There was some thunder and lightning with it. A couple times the thunder was loud enough to wake me up. We are expected to get some more rain today as well as tomorrow, Thursday has a chance for snow. Never driven the Corolla in snow, at least not deep snow or with the new tires. Not sure how well it does in snow, but I see we're about to find out.

Have been having strange dreams for a while now. I dreamt one night that I was out doing some shopping without a shirt or bra on. Even though I felt no shame and was quite comfortable, some of my fellow shoppers didn't like the fact I was shopping that way. That's just one example of the strangeness of my dreams as of late.

Thought that the dogs would be easier, and they weren't at all. Got Kiska into the car first, but forgot that the drivers side window was open, so when Mom came to help me with Sergei, Kiska came bounding around the corner. So Mom grabbed Kiska's leash and then I got Sergei out. We headed out with the sled dogs nearly pulling us down with every step. When they were finally into the car, we got in and head to the vets for round three of fun. The dogs were easier, but only slightly. The boarding "shot" was something that went in their nose and they were done. We paid and then took them home and gave them some over the counter medication the vet said was okay to give them.

After we rested for a bit, we got out and cleaned the gutters. We then had lunch and rested for a couple hours. About three, we got cleaned up and did a little shopping before we went to see a movie. We saw the movie "Bobby". The movie dragged a little in a couple spots, but over all it was a very well done film. The performances but those involved were wonderful. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets nominated for an award or two.

Made two, yes TWO, trips to the vet with nine cats stuffed into four carriers. We had been told by the kennel where the cats and our two dogs were going to be staying in December, that the cats only needed their rabies shots. Nothing else, just the rabies shot. Then when we got back after the first trip, I called again and was told they needed another shot as well as testing for FIV and Feline Leukemia. And when Mom called she got yet another answer as to what shots the cats needed. So instead of heading right off to the vets again, we went and did laundry.

After laundry we had some lunch and then headed home to wrangle the cats again for a fun filled second trip to the vet's office. When we got there, they questioned us about the blood work, they have to draw blood for the FIV and Leukemia tests. We told the gal that we had been told it was required by the kennel. She felt it wasn't really needed and thought it was excessive. She then told us that while they didn't kennel pets, but they knew someone we could trust and left to call them. She returned and said they this kennel was not only cheaper, but didn't require the tests. This saved us close to $450 dollars and spared the cats added trauma. After we got the cats a second shot that was needed, we paid and left to go buy to more smaller carries so two of the cats could be by themselves. When we got home we called the first kennel and said our plans had changed and canceled our reservation, then called the second kennel. We will also be saving $425 dollars with the second kennel.

Tomorrow the dogs get their turn. And fun will be had by no one.

Mom and I had a relaxing Thanksgiving for a change. There was no massive amount of cooking, even though there is just the two of us. We skipped making bread, rolls and pie this year. Bought a frozen pie and Pillsbury crescent rolls to bake and enjoy. After we had eaten and then relaxed we went to see the movie "For Your Consideration". The movie was quite good. I like Christopher Guest movies, my favorite being "A Mighty Wind".

The plumber came out yesterday to fix the leaky faucet downstairs and it only cost $150 dollars to fix it. If I had known it wasn't going to cost bundle, I would have done it weeks ago.

Robert Altman has died. Loved some of his stuff, I've seen M*A*S*H, Short Cuts and A Prairie Home Companion. I have Nashville on DVD and Mom has Gosford Park on DVD. He will be missed.

Michael Richards is now on the shit list. He joins a lovely bunch of people who I will mute if they appear on my TV screen. I will no longer watch Seinfeld, not that was a big problem anyway since I have not viewed an entire episode in months.

Got Family Guy Volume Four in the mail yesterday. Have watched a couple episodes already, I love that every episode has commentary.

Waiting on a plumber to take a look at a leaky faucet downstairs. Like always, there's a long wait for them to actually show up.

Got some rain last night. I didn't clean out the rain gauge after last weeks rain, so the total will include what little we got from last week.

Had a mild headache last night and I have a mild headache now. I know its from the up and down temperature roller coaster we've been on.

The Chiefs lost yesterday. I don't think the team will be any good until they spend money on getting some quality people on defense. There is only so much a second string quarterback can do, so he needs better people protecting hi. Until then, the Chiefs will continue to suck.

It snowed for a brief period of time last night. Yesterdays high was somewhere in the lower forties, about ten degrees cooler then what had been forecast.

Looks like I will be getting my passport sometime in the next week or so. Mom had to order a birth certificate from vitalcheck.com as well, what she had wasn't really a birth certificate. I figured something was wrong with her passport process when it didn't show any progress on the tracking site. If my passport tracking info hadn't been completely different from hers, we wouldn't have known something was wrong. I gave her the tracking number and phone number to the passport information center, she called and found out about the birth cetificate. So her passport will be delayed a bit, even though she filed a week before I did. I only wish I had her call earlier, but we didn't suspect anything until my passport stuff went through. Funny thing, and this is the Government for you, we never got a letter or a phone call from them. So who knows what would have happened if we hadn't called.

Jack Palance and Gerald Levert have died. I am not familiar with Leverts' work but I did like much of Palances' work.

Had a headache today, it was worse then the one I had yesterday. I couldn't do much because of the pain.

We got some rain today. There was at least one heavy, but brief, downpour. I think its cooler then what they had forecast. Will have a rain total tomorrow.

Thought my dentist appointment was for tomorrow, even though the card I was given says the 18th. Called to verify that it was the 18th and it is for 10 am on the 18th. I know the confusion came from when it was set up. The gal told me the 11th, but the little appointment card says the 18th. I guess I could have gone tomorrow and had them tell me I had come in on the wrong day. But I don't think I feel like embarrassing myself like that.

Ed Bradley has died. He was one of my favorite guys on "60 Minutes".

Have a headache. Think the fact its been warm the past couple days and is set to turn cooler for a bit, is what is causing it.

It's been kinda quiet around here, and I like that. But the holidays and the potential for travel will get my nerves a firm workout.

I have decided to give up posting how my football picks did. When the season ends, I will post how my teams did. The main reason for this is not that I am embarrassed at how bad my picks are doing, but more that I don't remember to look up the scores until Monday or Tuesday. Also in some sense I've just lost interest in keeping track. Think next year I will keep it simple and pick one pro team and one college team to follow.

Tried to get my passport ball rolling Saturday, but because I didn't have a birth certificate only a copy of a live birth certificate, I couldn't do anything. They excepted Mom's birth certificate because it had a raised seal, the guy had to go to another clerk to make sure it would be accepted. The live birth certificate has gotten me a drivers license, at least three bank accounts, credit and a safe deposit box. There's probably more, but that's all I can remember off hand. We got online and ordered a birth certificate from Vitalcheck.com. Got it via UPS air today. It has a somewhat raised seal and I hope to hell they take it because I don't know what else I can do. At least Mom's passport forms are in the system and if everything goes right she'll get hers. If we both are denied a passport then Paris is off forever. And it irks me, because she deserves to get her dream trip.

Got rain twice this week, both times it amounted to about half an inch. The clouds broke open and the sun shined yesterday afternoon.

Did some shopping for clothes yesterday, both online and in a brick and mortar. The only thing I didn't get was a suitcase, but there is plenty of time to acquire one.

The St Louis Cardinals won the World Series. I figured they were a strong enough team to do so. It's not that the Detroit Tigers were bad, they did get to the series, but I just felt the Cardinals were a little better.

Jane Wyatt passed away. She was probably best know for the TV show "Father Knows Best", I know her from that but she also played Mr Spocks human mother on the series "Star Trek" and in one of the movies.

Got a little bit of rain last night. We need it so I cant complain too much. The rain did wash out the fourth game of the World Series, though.

The appraiser came yesterday afternoon right on time. He wasn't in the house more then fifteen minutes.

I don't want to jinx it but it looks like I may be spending a few days in Paris. The one in France not the one in Texas. Need to get a passport, a suitcase, a new outfit or two, maybe some new shoes and some miscellaneous things. And on this trip, the day before we start making our way home....we will spend Christmas in Paris. I think no other Christmas will ever compare to the one we will be spending in Paris, but that's just me.

Got at least an inch of rain today. More rain may be coming later in the week. One of the windows on the south sides need a new window well cover, maybe that will help prevent some if not all of the water from entering.

Had the car worked on this morning. New tires, a alignment and an oil change.

Will be doing a fair amount of cleaning the next few days. An appraiser is coming by to look the house over. If I remember correctly from the last time, it didn't take more then a few minutes. Don't know how much it will appraise for, but if the guy gives it a good value, we could save more on our loan.

The St Louis Cardinals will be playing against the Detroit Tigers in the World series. I would like to see the Tigers win, but St Louis is a strong team. Good Luck to both teams.

It has been cool, cloudy and looking like rain for the entire week so far. We did get some rain Sunday and another quarter of an inch on Monday, but nothing since. I have nothing against the sun, but I do like looking at clouds.

Colorado and maybe another state or two got some snow the other day. It is not uncommon to get snow this time of the year, but it just seems strange.

Jeffrey won Project Runway with his greasy hair, neck tattoo, bad designs and all. I don't think a contestant who already has a designing business should even be considered to participate on a show like PR. Of course, we really haven't heard much from the previous two seasons winners Jay and Chloe. Who knows what will happen to Jeff. The show is a bit of a disaster, a success but a successful disaster. They should retool the show and streamline it a bit to make it more interesting. But I doubt they will do anything because they probably feel they have some wonderful with what they have already.

The Chicago Bears squeaked by with a win last night to remain unbeaten. They have this weekend off, so they can breathe a sigh of relief and get some rest.

A freak snowstorm dumped two feet of snow in upper New York. Causing lots of problems and damage. And then Hawaii gets hit with a 6.3 earthquake. We got one and a quarter inches of rain Sunday. Mother Nature is having quite a week.

Had a dream that involved my dad's side of the family. Even though I haven't spoken to anyone on that side in years, something of my own doing and believe me I hadn't been upset one minute about not seeing any of them for awhile, I had a dream that I was invited to a reunion. I was driving an old truck that I had helped restore. When I got to the house, which was out in the country and a place I wasn't familiar with, there were already a lot of people there. As I walked up to the house, I realized I didn't know many of the people there. When I walked into the house, we were told we needed to donate some money before we could go any further. After I donated some money, I was given a receipt and allowed to proceed. As I walked into the first room, I found it was more of an estate sale then an actual reunion. Some people seemed surprised to see me there, I didn't get the feeling of hostility from anyone. I do remember getting into a brief argument because someone thought I hadn't donated any money, but found I did have a receipt and was allowed to continue. When I was walking down a corridor, a woman whom I didn't know said that she resented the fact I was there. The people between us seemed to share her feeling. I told them off and made my way through the room and almost left, I decided to stay because I felt I deserved to be there. That's all I remember.

My football picks-pros=KC lost,NY Giants won, Chicago plays tonight and Indy was off. College=Northwestern and Washington St lost, Idaho and Miami won.

Freddy Fender has died. Liked some of the stuff he did.

Had a dream last night that involved my neighbors across the street. I was standing in line at the IRS. Had to explain some of the things I had deducted on my taxes and was hoping my bluff was working. As I stood there, one of my neighbors asked me what I was doing there and I told her. She said she was there for the same reason. While we were talking the office turned into my living room and we continued the conversation as though nothing had changed. We began talking about cats and then the conversation ended. That's I remember about that strange dream.

Got a half an inch of rain last night. The cool weather is great, the nice gentle rain we got last night and this afternoon is great.

Cory Lidle, New York Yankees pitcher, died in a plane crash today. Although I am not now or will ever be a yankee fan, it is sad he died.

Had an interesting dream last night and I remember none of it. I remember bits of other dreams but not of the one I just know was interesting. Not sure how I am convinced it was interesting, but I just know it was. The one dream I do remember is being at home and seeing snow on the ground. I am waiting for some guy I am seeing to come an deliver some wood. I keep walking around the house and finally go out side and pick some small limbs in the driveway. That's all I remember.

I spent another three hours in the dentists chair Saturday only to find the crown wouldn't fit and that the post it would fit on had come out with the temporary tooth. Have another appointment for next month. Will not be happy if I have to keep going through this.

My football picks- Pros=KC, Chicago and NY Giants won, Indy was off. College=Washington and Northwestern lost, Miami and Idaho won.

Negro League baseball great John "Buck" O'Neil has died. He was 94. Although he had lived a rich and full life, it still would have been great that he lived long enough to be voted into the baseball hall of fame. I am sure he would have given one hell of a speech. But when the time comes for him to be voted in, he'll be looking down from heaven with a smile on his face. I saw him one time at a KC Royals game. I was too shy to approach him, I don't know what I would have said that wouldn't said to him and I'm not sure I could have enough courage to asked for an autograph. Regardless, it was nice to see him out enjoying a game.

Weird weather continues . Tuesday it was 94, Wednesday it was 64. And my head didn't seize up because of it. This weekend it is supposed to be in the 80's for both days, but the cool fall like weather returns for the work week.

Have a dentist's appointment today to get my new crown put in. After that we will get some groceries and come home. We have a couple chores to do this afternoon, but may take it easy this afternoon.

There have been three incidents of school violence in the past week and a half. Yesterday, a gunman went to a Amish school in Pennsylvania and shot ten kids, five have died. The gunman killed himself at the scene. It is sad when children are a target of violence like this.

Yesterday was a record high for the day, the high of 94 broke the record set in 1976. The rest of the week is supposed to be fairly warm, highs in the 80's and 90's. No one seems to be able to agree about what the weather is to do, so who knows.

Because the weather has turned wacky, I have headaches. Thankfully they are pretty mild.

Had two dreams last nights that I remember parts of. In one I was living in a Victorian style house. Out front was a small flower garden that included a stone water feature. I don't remember how people were dressed other then the women had their hair up and wore white shirts. The houses on the brick street were close together and were painted white. There was a park across the street from the house that had a wrought iron fence around it. A gentleman was supposedly coming for me but he was late and I was upset about him being late. Somebody told me to go outside and wait for him. I went to the water feature and stared forlorn into the small amount of water that was there. When I heard a buggy going past I looked only to find it wasn't the person I was waiting on. That's all I remember of that dream.

In the other dream, myself and a few people were walking around looking for some old house. We were heading towards some farmland after being in sort of a wooded area for a bit. When we got to the old house I saw a ghost in one the upstairs windows. I was the only one to see it at first, and I was a little frightened by it. That's all I remember of this dream.

My football results from this weekend- Pros=KC, Indy, Chicago won. College=Idaho & Miami won, Northwestern & Washington St. lost.

I still don't remember the other dream from the other day. Not that it matters. I don't remember the dreams from the past couple days either.

Yesterday I turned 38. And I had a headache. A couple years ago I had the flu on my birthday. The day would have been better if I hadn't felt bad. Went to the renaissance festival, took ten cans of food and got ten dollars off the tickets. After we had our fun there, we headed home. We weren't sure if we wanted to go to a movie or not, decided after we rested awhile that neither felt like seeing a movie. We left to do a little shopping and then had an early dinner.

Today, and for the next few days, it will be warm. It had been nice and cool the past few days. I guess I can deal with a few warm days since it will at least cool off a bit in the evening. Think the high today was around 91 or 92.

The strange dreams continue.
In one I had last night, what I remember is being in the front yard and doing some landscaping. The area I was working in was shaded by these lovely trees. What I was doing was making a better pond for some fish that we had. While I was alternatively working on the pond and dealing with the fish, I was fighting with our neighbors. I remember that one of the neighbors was on their porch talking to me and someone was hanging out a window. What I gather is that they didn't like what I was doing with the fish. I told it was going to be fine. At times, someone from my house would come out and impede the work I was doing by trying to argue with me about some nothing issue. That's all I remember about that dream and I now don't remember anything of the other dream. Well if I think of it, I'll post it here.

Got a little bit of rain last night. Rain had been forecast, but it was a slight chance we would get any. Don't think it was more then an eighth of an inch.

The other night I had a couple strange dreams. One included me driving around in an expensive yellow high performance car, like a Porche. That's all I remember about it. The other dream involved me being a parent or a surrogate parent to a bunch of kids. We were dirt poor and it was Christmas time. The kids wanted things we could afford and they didn't seem to understand I couldn't take them to the store to get said items. The only thing else I remember is that somehow I managed to get just enough to buy some of the things on the kids want list.

Last night I had a dream that involved Mom and me traveling. We ended up stopping at a shopping mall to buy some of the things we really needed. Before we split up, we agreed to meet back at the register of this particular store we were at in half an hour. I wondered off and found a couple things I wanted. As I looked around I would see something I liked and wanted to look at again later. The problem was I could never find the item again, so as a result I ended up just wandering around like an idiot. At some point I knew I need Mom's help, but had no clue where she was. After wandering around for awhile, I saw here walking past with a group of parents and kids. I motioned her to come off and she said she would be back in a minute. The dream ended with me just continuing to wander around.

Two sports related stories.

First-Byron Nelson, the golfing legend passed away. Although I have had an interest in golf off and on for years, I was familiar with the name. But I know very little about him.

Secondly, it looks as though Terrell Owens attempted suicide. I hope he gets some help that he needs.

Some deaths I am late on reporting- Mickey Hargitay who was married to Jayne Mansfield. Their daughter,Mariska, is an actress. Tim Rooney, Mickey Rooneys son. Joseph Hayes, who wrote "The Desperate Hours". And finally Iva Toguri D'Aquino "Tokyo Rose".

Heres how my football picks did this past weekend: Idaho and Northwestern lost, Washington St won and Miami had a bye week. Indy and Chicago won, NY Giants lost and KC had a bye week.

I had a couple odd dreams last night.

In one dream I was living with an older woman who I was very much attracted to. We went to bed, we shared a bed for some reason, and this particular night she went to bed naked. Well I couldn't keep my hands off of her so we ended up making love. During the course of the dream our relationship unfolded. We became a couple and made love often. The things that were strange was the apartment was small which didn't bother either of us and that I never really got a good look at her face.

The other dream took place at night and there was some sort of celebration going on in the community. There were comfortable benches outside and people were walking around with smiles on their faces. When I sat down on one of the benches, I realized I had a small bag in my hand that had some fireworks in it. Not long after I sat down, an older woman came along and sat down near me. We talked about everything that was going on and the stuff I had in the bag. I ended up lighting one of the items and a small fireball came out and headed towards a house on the hill setting it on fire. I became upset because I thought there were people in the house had died. The woman sitting next to me joked about the fireworks. A couple minutes later the other item in ny bag caught on fire and flung a fireball towards a shack on a hill overhead setting it on fire. I got up and headed to my room in the hotel close by. When I looked back I thought a zombie was following me and I ran towards the river bank and then darted off. The next few days in the dream seemed to pass by quickly ending my death in the dream. Don't think I actually died though.

We got a little bit of rain yesterday morning, but it wasn't more then an eighth of an inch. In fact, we got just shy of half an inch on Thursday. The strange thing is, we had two bursts of heavy rain. The later burst lasted a few minutes. But that's how strange Mother Nature works sometimes.

Had a dream last night that me a few people I knew, went to this restaurant we had been here good things about. When we got there, a large crowd was in the lobby and we thought we would have to wait awhile. But they were leaving and so we taken to our table. We walked through the main dining area and descended the stairs to this large are downstairs that was dark. The person who was showing us to our table walked so fast that I lost him in the dark. As we continued to stumble in the room, I looked over and saw people sitting in chairs along the wall. Finally I took a flashlight out of my bag and found our table. The person who had led us downstairs and a few of the people seemed a bit perturbed by the flashlight, but I figured we would never have found our table without it. After we had been sitting down in the dark for awhile a projector turned on and some weird films started to play. Without us even having to order, some food was put in front of us. Since the tables in the room were rather large, a couple more small groups were seated with us. None of us in my group were happy about our experience so far. As the films played, a guy at our table started to cry about the gal featured in one of the films. He said it was so sad what happened to her, he was upset enough he couldn't finish his meal. After we eat a little of the bad food, we paid our bill and left. The next day I went to my office writing a review of the restaurant. When it was published, the newspaper got a little backlash from the restaurant and some of its fans about the article. We defended it, because it was all true. Later we found out that if they felt you weren't good enough to be seated upstairs you got taken to the basement dining room. A few days after the article appeared, the restaurant closed for remodeling.

Had some rain in the area yesterday, mostly in the afternoon and evening. Mom worked late last night and we went to pick up some dinner at the store, when we got back home it started to rain heavily. There had been tornado warnings for counties west of us, as far as I know we were never under a warning of any kind.

I have been having strange dreams again and I cant seem to remember anything but have fleeting images of what I dreamt. I wish I could remember more. In one dream I do remember a friend of mine, whom I haven't seen in months, came by with some friends of his and they talked to me about one or more of them staying at my place. They seemed disappointed by me not having enough space for them. That's all I remember about the dream.

My football picks results from this past weekend: College picks- Miami lost, Northwestern, Washington St. and Idaho won. NFL picks-KC lost, Indy, Chicago and NY Giants won. My picks did better this week, it would be nice if just one weekend they all won.

Got an inch of rain overnight. It is cooler today then yesterday. I think yesterday's high was ninety-one. At the moment it is in the sixties.

Had a headache yesterday, it never got really bad but had wanted to see a movie and didn't feel like I could sit through a movie with the pain I had.

So sad that this week two babies were kidnapped. One has been found safe, the other one is still missing.

Ann Richards, former governor of Texas, has died from cancer.

Whitney Houston has filed for a separation or a divorce, it depends on what news service you read.

According to weather forecasters, this past summer was one of the hottest since the dust bowl days. They base this on the average temperature.

Watched Project Runway last night and when they introduced the "guests", it was Vincent and the doofus Angela. The kicker was that if they won, they would be back in the game. Well I was ready to give up the show if the doofus won the challenge. The designers could only use two colors, black and white. I watched hoping that luck would hold out and doofus would not win and that her and Vincent would once again be off the show. Once the outfits had been made, the models put them on and off to the runway. After the runway show and after the judges chatted with the designers, it was Aufing time. Laura won the challenge, which meant adios to both Vincent and Angela for a second wonderful time. The loser of the rest of the designers was Kayne. I can see why they let him go, most of the outfits he made were really just variations of pageant dresses, at least in my opinion. Uli is for the most part also a one trick pony, variations of halter dresses. I think if Kayne and Uli had gone outside of there comfort zone and made something that wasn't a halter top dress or something gal could wear to a pageant, they might have gotten better scores. I am sorry to see Kayne go, not so sorry to see the other two go again. Good luck, Kayne.

My NFL picks were alright this past weekend-KC & NY Giants lost, Indy and Chicago won. Think I would be shocked if all my teams, both college and pro, all won in one weekend.

It has looked like rain the past couple days but didn't do anything. There is a chance of rain for today and then its suppose to warm up the rest of the week.

Have a mild headache today, but I'll take some aspirin with breakfast.

It has been five years since four hijacked planes crashed, two in New York, one in Washington DC and the last one in Pennsylvania. And since that day have we as a country learned anything? NO. Everything is normal, almost like nothing ever happened. Our government hasn't really done anything. Sure we have kids fighting a so called war, but nothing really has come of it. Sure we got Saddam, but look at all of the others that have slipped through the cracks. Gas costs more today then it did before the attacks, but rather then being outraged that greedy oil folks are making a ton of money everyone seems to just be resigned to paying more at the pump.

It is sad to think that all those people died for nothing, but that's where we are.

This week with my college picks- Miami and Washington St. won while Northwestern and Idaho both lost.

Got some rain early yesterday morning and then not a drop after about seven am. Today we have had short rain showers at least three times as the storm fronts have moved through.

Watched Project Runway Wednesday evening and was giddy to see Vincent finally go. There's just something weird about that guy and I'm not sure if I can put my finger on it. But I am glad he's gone.

Mowed much of the front yard this morning. Would have done it earlier, but I had a mild migraine. I began to feel a little better after I had eaten breakfast. The main reason I wanted to mow was there is a chance of rain for the weekend and as I've mentioned before, I don't like mowing during or right after it rains. Just my little quirk, but with our yard I don't want to go to the hospital with an injury because I couldn't wait a day or two.

Will probably watch a movie this afternoon. Still have one more disc of my Ren & Stimpy box set to watch. I bought it a couple months ago and then the heat came and then I didn't feel like watching them.

Miami lost to Florida St. last night. So that puts me at one for four so far. Okay I know it's only the first week.

Steve Irwin Died after a incident with a stingray.

Saw a few minutes of the Jerry Lewis MDA show, seems like they used to have it one the entire Labor day weekend. Guess times have changed.

So far my college picks dont look good-Washington St. lost, Idaho lost but Northwestern won. Tonight Miami plays and I hope they win.

Nellie Connally who was in car when John F. Kennedy was assassinated has died. She was the last living person who was in the car on that fateful November 1963 day in Dallas Texas. May she rest in peace.

Okay, here are my Pro and College Football teams I picked last week. Pro-Indy Colts, NY Giants to keep the Bears and Chiefs company. College-Idaho, Miami, Washington State and Northwestern. Watched the Ohio State Buckeyes spank the Northern Illinois Huskies yesterday.

Will do some chores today and maybe go out and do an errand this afternoon. I need to mow the backyard, but I am not sure if I will do that today or tomorrow.

Glenn Ford has passed away. I liked a few of the movies he starred in.

Was watching Project Runway last night and still can't get over that Angela got the boot at long last. Yes Angela, you're out. Go back to your little isolated Ohio farm and shut the heck up. Your lousy "International Jet Setter" outfit made it look like you were all dressed up to go out and slop the hogs. You should have been eliminated long ago. Talk to your stupid mother about how sad it is you lost and keep your stupid designs to yourself. Not sure how Angela got on the show or managed to stay as long as she did but ding dong the witch is gone.

This makes entry number 400 in my little blog. :->

Some areas north and south of us hardly got any rain. East of us had tornado activity or sightings of funnel clouds at least. So it was a big storm front that past through. The total, I think I mentioned this yesterday, is about four and a half inches. Most of that rain came Sunday.

Haven't picked out who I am going to follow in football this year. I have the schedules for the pro and college teams that were printed in yesterdays paper, will take a look at them today and see who looks good. The KC Chiefs and the Chicago Bears are a given for the pros, will pick out at least a couple more NFL teams. As for the college teams, Northwestern is the only team I know I want to follow this year.

I have slept pretty good the past couple of nights, despite having had dental work done on Saturday. In fact I am surprised I slept as much as I did Saturday. I don't have any paid related to the work I had done, which is good.

So far we have gotten four and a half inches of rain. It looks like we might get some more before the day is over. A inch and a half of that rain came in a heavy downpour mid-afternoon. We have flash flood warnings and heavy storm warnings until midnight tonight. It's like I have said many times, when we need rain we get some but not enough or when we need it we get too much. Well at this moment we have the latter. If we had gotten that much rain over the course of a few days, it wouldn't have been a bad deal, but that much in such a short time isn't good. The ground cant absorbs a great deal at once and when we get too much, we get flash flood warnings. If it doesn't rain the rest of the week, I will be happy. Don't take what I am saying as complaining, I am happy we are getting some rain. It's just we don't need this much at once.

I spent close to an hour downstairs getting water out of the basement, I usually prefer to have Mom help but she was too tired to help. We have a window well that needs to have a new cover and when Mom finally gets around to helping me with a few things around the house, it will get taken care of.

If by some chance we do get more water in the basement, I will try and take care of it in the morning before Mom goes off to work. If I don't I might wait until she gets back home, but I could do it where I have the garage door down a bit and locked so no one can get in.

We got some rain Friday and it looked we were going to get rain Saturday but got nothing. Early this morning, Sunday, I woke up and heard it raining. Since I didn't dump the rain out of the rain gauge the total from today will include Fridays rain.

Well, I spent four hours, yes FOUR hours, in the dentists chair yesterday. And it wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. For a few moments of terror I though I was going to need root canal, but I may not need it. I am crossing my fingers that I wont need it. I have a temporary tooth in and in a couple weeks I will get my new crown put in. In all it cost around $1,100 to fix my tooth. But I did get a lot for that though. There was exam,I did get a free tooth brush and dental floss. But you could say I paid for them anyway.

Broke my crown while eating breakfast yesterday, have a dentist appointment on Saturday. Had to walk to the bank this afternoon to take care of getting out online bank account. The account had gone dormant after three weeks ( we didn't know you needed to access it at least once every three weeks) and then was it was deleted after three months. Because we need to check our balance now and again or need to see if a check cleared, I had to walk to the bank and get the paperwork started on us getting an online account going. When I was almost home I heard thunder, I looked and saw a storm front that seemed to be following me. Not long after I got home, it started to rain.

It has been nice temperature wise all week. Even when it has gotten into the nineties during the day, it cools of in the evening and the house gets comfortable.

We got three quarters of an inch of rain Friday night/Saturday morning. The forecast for the week looks pretty good. Maybe people can begin to live again and without the blast furnace going.

Have some things I need to do today and I will do them despite having a headache and being tired.

I do not remember much detail of the three dreams I know I had last night, but I do remember what went on in two of the dreams. One involved me being in war (I have played three Medal Of Honor games several times, in fact I have played Frontline and European assault many times and I played a Call Of Duty for a bit but didn't like it and sold it), the other dream involved a sunken boat. Do not remember anything about the third dream, but what I do remember is that I didn't feel uneasy or frightened but what I was seeing and going through. I felt calm about everything.

Would like to take this opportunity to thank Mother Nature for Monday and Tuesday. Both days were very, very nice.

It looks like normal summer temperatures will be returning for the rest of August. Although today and Friday will be fairly hot, but I can deal with a couple days of it.

Bruno Kirby died the other day. I enjoyed some of the things he was in, he was a very good actor. He was only 57, so its a bit sad that he died. Not that it isn't sad when anyone dies at any age.

From last night through this morning, several storms dumped an inch of rain on our area. Even though the humidity is one hundred percent, it doesn't matter because we finally got a sizeable rain fall. Now if the dastardly heat much of the country has been dealing with would just pack its bags and leave.

Last night I once again had odd dreams. The only thing I can remember is that one involved oranges.

Forgot to mention that Mike Douglas, the TV host, passed away. I was a weird kid that grew to be a weird adult. But I remember watching his show when I was younger. I also watched Match Game and Dinah Shore, among other shows, when I was a kid.

Woke up yesterday and saw clouds. Thought it might be an indication we were going to get rain, but the clouds and the fog burned off by mid-morning. The day wasn't too bad otherwise. Looks like maybe we might get rain or a chance of rain once or twice this week. We certainly can use it, we are around eight inches behind for the year in the area.

Had a couple strange dreams last night. One involved me being on a basketball/dodge ball team. It was odd that some of my teams switched from being men to girls younger then me and a couple were twins. The other team taunted us, but we ended up winning, even though it appeared I was the only one who knew how to play. The other dream involved Mom and me being in some town I was not familiar with, but many people knew or at least acted like they knew us. We were walking around and decided to go to some bar, when we got to the door there was something blocking our way which was just pushing out of the way. The guy that helped us push the stuff out of the way wasn't sure the bar was open, but we looked through the dark glass and saw people inside so we went in. We sat down, placed a drink order and looked around. Even though we both felt a little uneasy about being in the place we decided to stay. At some point we changed seats, the lights went out and a movie began to play. There was a woman sitting next to me that began to take her clothes off, which was annoying. After a couple minutes, I grabbed the dress she was trying to take off and threw it several feet away. She never looked at me, but complained to the guy she was with and that's where the dream ends.

Mother Nature has been toying with us. There have been some storm systems pass us by and dump rain on some other section of the country. Worse yet, earlier in the week rain had been forecast and it really looked like we would get some, but we didn't. The storm ( as I already mentioned) just gathered its strength and gave the rain to someone else. Well finally yesterday we got a small amount of rain. It may not have amounted to much but we did get some rain and it cooled off a little. Right now we have a little bit of fog. I am hoping that the heat doesn't continue much long and does not care on into fall.

Have been having trouble sleeping, mainly caused the heat. And when I have slept, I have had strange dreams. Mostly I just remember an image but no details. This morning I had a dream where I was being put into a hospital. I remember I didn't want to be there. I was just arguing my case as to why I shouldn't be there and the argument fell on deaf ears. The last thing I remember was being told to lay down on a particular bed while I was talking with my mom. We were going back and forth with why I needed to be in the hospital and how we were going to pay for it when I didn't have insurance. That's all I remember.

Not sure what all I am going to do today. I do have some chores I need to get caught up on. But I am tired, from the troubles with sleeping and having to deal with the heat. So I am not sure just how much I will get done. Of course I will get the dishes and cat boxes cleaned, but I think I might just do one a or two light chores and call it a day.

Been dealing with computer issues and the heat the past couple days. Had to do a system restore after getting a trojan and it's screwed everything up. They outta just put an expiration date on computers like the do on seemingly everything else. That way you knew you had so long to have that particular computer.

Friday was a nice day for Moms birthday. It cooled down a little and allowed us to have fun an the Nelson-Atkins museum, Crown Center and then have a lovely meal at Red Lobster. We ate Lunch at the Rozelle (sp?) Court at the Nelson. After we were done at the Nelson, we went to Crown Center. Then we went home and rested a little while before heading out for dinner. She loved the gifts I got for her and had a pleasant day. Then the weekend came and brought the damned blast furnace heat with it.

The weekend was hot and nasty. Anyone who says they love summer should be shot on sight. There was a chance for rain last night, but Mother Nature is tormenting us again and we got nothing. Although, I think so parts of the metropolitan area might have gotten something. Today looks like rain and there's a slight chance for tomorrow, but I don't think Mother Nature will give us what we need. And what we need is rain and cooler temps.

Saturday, I looked at the Moon and for a moment I thought the glow coming off of it looked like a cross. It was strange, I don't know if because of it being not quite full or if was the angle. But it did look like it had a cross glow coming off it.

I spent most of yesterday convinced that the weather and forecasters were taunting us with claims it would rain. But yesterday evening the blessed rain came and brought its friend cool temperatures. So far the clouds are staying, hope they stay all day, and there is a chance we might get some more rain. My guess is that we got in the neighbor hood of half an inch last night. When Mom got home, which was late, we went out on a quick errand and the rain got a bit heavier as we got closer to home. Not only did we need a break from the blast furnace, but we needed the rain.

Mom's birthday is Friday and she managed to get the day off. So we are going to go out and have a little fun, then have dinner at her choice of restaurant.

Part Two of Items Of Mystery.

Items of mystery.

Okay this bigfoot is fake, but still.

I will not complain about yesterday, because yesterday was wonderful. It was about fifteen degrees cooler then what had been expected, we had a little bit of rain and the clouds stayed around most of the day. But, the next few days are supposed to be brutal. The crazy thing is, that on one weather site the forecast is one thing, on another site its close to the first forecast but varies on if we'll get rain and then the news says something else. So whom does one believe? The news says it will be a high of 107, which varies from the two weather sites, which both say the high is to be in the low to mid nineties. Just proves one thing, that they really don't know what they are doing even with all this fancy tools they have at their disposal.

Ken Jennings is a jerk and an idiot.

The past couple days it has looked like rain only we got nothing. We could really use the rain and cooler temperatures, not asking for a lot just want those two things.

Have been able to keep boredom at bay. Can't do to much in this heat, but I have been reading, listening to music and crocheting. If it were a bit cooler I would watch a DVD or two. I am really wanting to watch a Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie. But I don't feel like working the DVD player or VCR to hard in this heat.

Saw "The Devil Wears Prada" on Saturday. It was better then expected. We had lunch before we went, so we wouldn't be tempted by the $9.00 candy (okay that is exaggerated, but the movie candy does cost much more then what grocery stores or even convenient stores charge). After we show the movie, we did a little shopping and then picked up something for dinner before coming home.

The weekend temperatures were very nice. Dealing with the heat and other stresses finally caught up with both of us, so we took the rest of the weekend off. We got a quarter of inch in Friday's rain, not much but we'll take it. Looks like the coming week isn't going to be as bad as last week and at least one weather service mentions rain mid-week.

Kiska's first birthday is tomorrow and Mom's birthday is next week (not telling how old she is, for she would kill me). Franklin turned a year old last month. Haven't taken many photos of Kiska or Franklin lately so will try and do a little catch up.

At this moment we are getting some much needed rain. I hope it continues to rain for a while and if by some chance it stops, I hope it rains at least once or twice more today. The storm front pushed in warmer air last night, so sleeping was made harder by the heat. But at least we will have cooler temperatures for the next couple days and we are getting some rain.

Wednesday had a high of 104 degrees. I felt like I was being baked alive. If I ever win the lotto or come into some money I am buying a house with central air and turn it on so I can sit back and relax and not feel like I being baked.

I believe the heat has resulted in me having some strange dreams, some of which I do remember and have posted here and many I cant remember for more then a fleeting moment or two. But, I can have strange dreams any time of the year though.

Today, I am going to do a couple chores and then have an extended online time. Don't know what I am doing for lunch, its too early to think about that. But after I have lunch, I will sit back, relax and watch some TV and maybe a movie.

The weekend plans are to do a little shopping, see a movie and do some laundry. Will also do a little housework. I have a couple projects I would like to finish. Don't know if I will get to them this weekend. May just put them off until next week.

I have been managing alright in the heat. Yesterday I had a migraine and I lost most of the day because of it. The next couple days are supposed to be worse then what we have had so far. Went out and bought a couple new fans last night, I don't have central air and couldn't afford to run it much even if I did. We need rain and we need cooler temperatures, so if there was a way to bribe Mother Nature I would do it to get those things.

Red buttons passed away a couple days ago. The only movie I have of his is "The Poseidon Adventure", but I have seen some of his other work.

Thursday we went out to do a errand and have some dinner after Mom got off work. When we got out of the restaurant, it was a little cooler and some cloud cover had moved in. Later it started raining and we got have a half inch of rain in total. Some places south of us got a heck of a lot more rain.

Gas prices are on the rise again, as if that's a shock to people. I haven't heard of any drive offs at gas stations recently, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was happening more than we know about. Some people want to blame the owners of gas stations and convenient stores for gas prices and while some may be tacking on a few cents to make a profit, I doubt everyone is doing that. There are some honest station owners out there. Of course, it would be wonderful if a gallon of gas cost no more then a dollar fifty. But those days of cheaper gas are long gone. I do find it interesting though, that the price of gas has gone up while President Bush has been in office. Him being an oil man and possibly making money off doesn't have anything to with it. Or does it? No, we cant say something like that, or can we?

Had a strange dream with a recurring theme last night. Dreamt I was in high school again. The layout of the school was different then it was when I was there. After school was out for the day, I hurried towards the bus. When I got to the area where all the buses wait, I couldn't remember the number of my bus and when I finally did (it was 12 by the way), the buses began to leave which meant that I had to walk home. As I headed home, I repositioned my backpack and heard people behind me making fun of me. It didn't bother me a bit and I kept walking. At some point I realized that not only had it gone from day to night but I was over in Kansas City MO instead of Kansas City KS. It seemed a bit odd to me but almost as if that were normal. As I walked not only did I come up with a better back pack but I saw Melissa Etheridge walking along the street. She came over and started to direct us to the right way home. Even though I was heckled again and came up with a new backpack that I moved my stuff to and saw a famous person, nothing seemed to bug me and I thought it was all normal.

Looks like this is going to be a unusual summer in that it seems to be warmer then normal. Couple years ago it was cooler and wetter then normal so I guess Mother Nature is trying to even things out.

The strange dreams and troubles with sleeping continue. Nothing real bad, just one of the strange sleep cycles I get into from time to time.

Having been trying to find good (or at least entertaining) things to watch on TV in the evening and haven't had much luck. Until last night when there were four shows that overlapped each other were on. Taped one show in the living room, watched two and then caught the last one when it re-aired later that evening. I don't think programmers are trying to annoy us, but they are doing a good job of it.

June Allyson has died. I like a lot of the movies she was in. She will be missed.

The weekend and Monday were quite nice temperature wise and that's going to change this week. Today through the weekend it is going to get warmer. Friday is supposed to be close to 100 degrees and since the humidity is up from the rain and just up in general, that means it will feel every inch 100 degrees. I will say that when it has gotten warm, it wasn't that bad due to the humidity being low. Am not really complaining about the weather, I know it's summer and it's supposed to be warm and uncomfortable.

Had a strange dream Monday. I was with a group of people outside some building and we were told that there the bomb (a nuclear bomb) was going to be dropped. As we stood there someone screamed there's the plane now. We looked up and there was a large shiny plane and we became silent for a moment when we realized this was all for real. The guy who told us about the bomb spoke up again and said we needed to drink this juice that would help with the affects of the nuclear winter. I was standing at a desk that had cups set out and also had packages of this juice I was to dispense on top of it. I began to open the juice packs and wondered if I was doing it right, I wasn't sure of it because there was some mushy looking glob still inside some of the packs. After all the juice had been handed out, we headed for the shelters. As I walked to the real shelter, my dream self began to tell people where some of the other shelters were all the while knowing that they were screwed because they either wouldn't find it in time or because they were to close to the surface. As I walked to the real one I could people scrambling to get in to the cement corridors underground and look around for the entrance of the shelter. Some of the people were being to panic. Three other people and myself headed to the real shelter,when we got to the building where it was, we walked in and went to the elevator and headed down. My dream self hoped the bomb wouldn't go off while we were in the elevator. After we got down to the shelter level, the doors opened and revealed that we had to go through several glass doors before we could get into the shelter, we hurried to get through them. As we got closer to the shelter, a groupe of people appeared and asked where we were going. One of the guys I was with and myself managed to deflect there questions enough that they left. Once the last glass door had been opened and the shelter door had also been opened, all the glass doors closed and sealed us off. Once we entered the shelter and found everything alright, we sealed the shelter door and sat down. A few seconds later we felt the earth shake and we knew the bomb had been dropped. That's all I remember.

The past couple days have been pleasant. Cooler temps and a bit of rain will make anyone feel better. I must say that I am very happy I mowed the back yard and took care of some weeds yesterday morning. Although some of my neighbors will mow while its raining or even right after, I hate doing that.

Another plot to attack America was foiled. Idiots. We may get battered and bruised but we will always be ready to kick ass first and ask questions later.

The total rain fall of a couple days ago is one and a half inches.

Yesterday was cooler then Monday and way cooler then Sunday. Sundays high was about 100 degrees. It was cool last night as we sat out and shot of some fireworks. I kept a box of sparklers and a couple other things back for New Years eve.

We got some cooler weather and some much needed rain last night and into the morning. It start some time in the evening and rained heavy for a brief period, after it stopped I thought for sure we wouldn't get anymore rain. Around midnight it started raining and it continued off and on until early morning. From the looks of it we got a little over two inches of much needed rain and cooler temperatures.

Got several things done yesterday, including getting a safe deposit box at a different bank. The bank were we had the old deposit box at was no longer dealing with them, so they sent everyone letters instructing them what to do. So we switched banks and we got the first year free.

Finally saw the movie "The Da Vinci Code" yesterday. I had read the book but for one reason or another, I had just put off seeing the movie. Well the movie sucked. Yes I am going to say it, the book was better. Don't always say it but in this case its true. I was happy when the credits began to roll. What I should have done was just waited until it came out on DVD instead, that way I could have just fast forward through the dull parts, which would have been most of the movie.

This fourth of July is going to be hot. It is usually one of three things, cool, wet or hot. But it is summer so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Have a few chores I need to do today, but will take it easy much of the day. Tomorrow Mom has the day of, so we will do a couple things in the morning and not sure what else we will do. One thing we will take care of is transferring stuff we have in a safe deposit box from one bank to another. We will add a few things to the box before we go to the next bank.